County, ICE look into jail criticism

ORANGE Immigration authorities have increased federal oversight of detention facilities in Orange County and are working to improve conditions of confinement and health care for detainees, officials said in response to reports critical of a local facility.

The Detention Watch Network, a national coalition that seeks changes in U.S. immigration detention, has named Theo Lacy Facility in Orange one of the 10 worst immigration-detention centers in the nation and has called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end its contract with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for ICE, said in a statement that the agency is in the process of reviewing the reports.

“However, it is disappointing that the reports appear to be built primarily on anonymous allegations that cannot be investigated or substantiated and many secondhand sources and anecdotes that predate the agency's initiation of detention reform,” Kice said.

The Detention Watch Network, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, has asked ICE to cease housing people at the facility and develop programs to monitor and support those who are released while they await immigration decisions.

“Theo Lacy exemplifies the problem with ICE's overuse of county jails for immigration detention in California and nationally,” officials with the Washington, D.C.-based group said.

The Sheriff's Department has leased out beds for immigration detainees since 2009, helping the department stave off cuts to personnel and resources. Under the agreement with ICE, the department is paid $118 per detainee per day.

On average, the department has received about $25 million per year from the federal agency.

As of Friday, there were 480 male immigration detainees at Theo Lacy, and 255 men and 71 women at the James A. Musick Facility near Irvine. The average stay for an immigration detainee is 100 days.

In the greater Los Angeles area, ICE has the capacity to house about 2,300 immigration detainees. In addition to Theo Lacy, ICE uses detention beds at the Santa Ana city jail and at a facility in Adelanto.

The report released Thursday details a “widespread pattern of abuse,” including allegations of staff members kicking and shoving detainees. Volunteers toured the facility in September and spoke with more than 130 people.

“I can't refute what was said there because there were no specific allegations of a particular employee doing anything, so we are at a bit of a disadvantage,” Kea said.

“I can't categorically deny that these things (happened).”

But Kea said the report disparages the department's grievance process, which Kea called “very robust.” The report claims that people did not use grievance mechanisms because they were afraid of staff retaliation.

The department revised its grievance process after inmate John Chamberlain was killed by fellow inmates in 2006.

“We recognized that we needed an avenue for both our inmates and our detainees to be able to express their grievances,” Kea said, adding that grievances submitted by detainees are investigated and tracked.

In addition, facilities where immigration detainees are held are inspected by federal authorities annually, and the findings have revealed that the facilities are “substantially in compliance.”

Kea said the most recent inspection was conducted two weeks ago and the findings are pending, but an exit interview revealed the facilities were given high marks.

The report says staff members used racial slurs to describe detainees, and, on one occasion, employees mocked detainees at dinner by saying, “Let the U.S. citizens go first before the aliens.”

A deputy displayed abusive behavior by “kicking people's feet in the morning to wake them up,” the report read. Detainees, the report said, are also given “moldy” and “frozen” food.

In the report, Theo Lacy staff was found to have used solitary confinement for minor infractions, a punishment the authoring organization says can cause permanent damage to mental health. Detainees often were put into solitary confinement for violations of facility rules or to segregate the sick, the report said.

In a news release about the report, ACLU officials said that a detainee died at the facility as a result of staff neglecting the man's medical needs. ICE said Jose Aguilar-Espinoza, 55, died in early last year after going into cardiac arrest while in custody. Aguilar-Espinoza, from Honduras, was being held at Theo Lacy pending deportation.

“I don't believe that there is any merit to the allegations that anything that was done by us or the health care agency caused the death of that inmate,” Kea said.

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